USA – San Francisco’s convention space is not set to fill again until at least 2013, says the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau (SFCVB), who manages the city’s largest exhibition and convention venue the Moscone Centre.
Speaking to financial news agency Bloomberg, SFCVB’s executive vice president, Leonard Hoops, says the next three years are all tracking below-average years.
According to the US Travel Association, business travel in the US fell annually by 16 per cent between 2004-09. It expects the number to rise 2.5 per cent in 2010 and 3.7 per cent in 2011. “The damage was so significant in 2009, that it will likely take the industry years to recover,” says senior vice president of the association, Geoff Freeman.
For 2013, the city will host the annual American College of Cardiology conference, which is expected to attract over 25,000 delegates and will book 77,000 hotel room nights. Currently, Moscone’s largest conference is the Oracle OpenWorld, held in September attracting on average 70,000 room nights.
In total, conventions should book between 850,000 and 900,000 room nights in 2013, the first year since 2008 that the numbers will be that high, he says. The recession took a toll on San Francisco hotels and attractions last year, eating into business and generating 19 percent less tourism tax revenue than in 2008.
